


Where Are You?

by Rulerofyouall



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Concussions, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Drug Use, Drugs, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hypothermia, Injury, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd-centric, Jason-centric, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Protective Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake is Red Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28687128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rulerofyouall/pseuds/Rulerofyouall
Summary: A large gang gets the upper hand on Jason, concussing him severely and drugging him, but his family does not come.
Relationships: Batfamily Members & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Comments: 10
Kudos: 234





	Where Are You?

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing!

_Fuck._

He winced as he felt a tire iron slam into the back of his neck. His head flew forward, smashing his helmet into the pavement of the alleyway, and it shattered into pieces, metal shards scraping against his face.

_Fuck._

Jason wasn't quite sure how he got himself into this situation. There hadn't been that many of them to start off with, but it seemed as though the gang members multiplied and appeared out of thin air. They must've been somewhere, hiding where he could not see.

_Idiot._

He was sure that he was going to get a long ass lecture later about what dumb fuck he was; obviously, he had not canvassed the scene properly. He thought he had, but something must have distracted him at some point. Red Hood never missed a single detail. It was something that Talia had instilled in him years ago. Before going into a dangerous situation, he had to know exactly what was going on, where everyone was, and more.

It was too cold for this shit.

There were voices coming from above him.

"...we should kill him, right?" It was a female's voice, but she sounded nervous.

There was silence for a little bit. "People would pay quite a lot to kill him themselves." It was a male this time.

"So, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Amber! I didn't expect to be in this position tonight."

One of them was named Amber. He'd have to take note of that. Jason craned his head around, eyes following each person and trying to memorize their faces.

"We should just leave him." A new person spoke. "He has a bat on his chest."

"The fuck does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, if we kill him, wouldn't the other Bats come after us?"

The male snorted. "I don't think so. Red Hood has always been the fucking black sheep of the family, and if they truly gave a damn about him, they'd have come to rescue his ass by now."

...He did have a pretty good fucking point. Where the hell was Bruce? He had sent out an SOS what felt like hours ago, so where the hell were they? Bruce never came.

At least, he never came _in time._

One of their boots collided roughly with the side of his head, and he saw stars.

He could never see stars in Gotham. There was far too much air pollution. He wished he could see them more often; they were so pretty. Jason had seen many, many stars while he was off world with Roy and Kori, but he wished to see the constellations spoken of in Greek mythos.

Would the others like to see the stars as well? Did they know how pretty they were? He laughed a little bit, turning his eyes towards the sky. 

"...the fuck is he laughing about?"

"I don't know. It's creeping me out."

Jason's head fell over as he turned to look at them. "The stars. They're pretty."

There was a beat of silence.

"Must be the drugs." It was the first female. What was her name? Amberly? Amberlynn?

"Whatever, just put a bullet in his head, and let's get out of here." 

_A bullet? In my head? Boo, that's not nice. Zero stars on Yelp._

He hummed lightly, ignoring the others.

"Come on. Do it already, Jaime, or are you a wuss?"

Jason giggled a little at their argument. His head felt like it was in the clouds, and clouds were up in the sky! Like stars. He missed stars.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are."

"Shut him up!"

"Derek, why the fuck did you drug him? That shit is expensive."

"I didn't want him lashing out at us!"

"...Fair."

Jason smiled at them. "Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky," he laughed again as his vision blurred. He didn't know if it was from a concussion or the drugs.

Where was his dad?

"Just shoot him already!"

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are..."

_Blam._

* * *

"Has anyone heard from Hood?" Tim spoke over the comms. "He was supposed to meet up with me in the Narrows."

"He hasn't spoken at all tonight." Dick's voice came through the device. "Maybe he's taken the night off?"

He didn't think that was the case. "Hood wouldn't do that without telling me."

"You think he's in trouble?" Their father's gruff voice sounded in his ear.

"He would've sent an SOS or something." Dick commented.

Tim frowned. "And if he has no access to his comms?"

There was a pause before Bruce spoke again. "Oracle, send me the location of Hood's tracker."

"Yes, Batman." Barbara spoke up. "His tracker is still in Crime Alley. I'm sending you the exact coordinates now."

"Received." Bruce responded. "Nightwing, Red Robin, I want you to head back to the Cave."

Tim furrowed his brow. "What if you need backup?"

"I won't."

"But-"

"I _won't._ "

* * *

"Hood?" He landed outside the alley Barbara had directed him to. It was quiet. Quiet and empty. "Are you there?"

Bruce shined a light down the alley. He wanted to find his son and get out of dodge; it was far too cold to be out. While searching, he noticed that the windows of the buildings he passed were slowly frosting over, and it had started to snow. His boots cracked through a thin layer of ice as he walked towards the shadowy back.

His son was there.

Jason.

He was beaten, bruised. Blood slowly seeped out of wounds located on his face and the back of his head. Notably, there was a bullet hole in the wall behind him, having grazed the side of his head. Bruce grimaced.

"Can you hear me?" He cautiously turned his son over, careful for any injuries he could be hurting.

He wasn't too late, right? He couldn't be too late again. Bruce had sworn that he wouldn't ever let that happen again.

Bruce found Jason's comms a few feet away; they were dead, crushed under someone's shoe. Whatever message Jason tried to send out wouldn't have gotten far, wouldn't have gotten to him. Had his son tried to contact him? Did he fall unconscious thinking that Bruce was actively ignoring him?

He also found a used syringe a few feet away. Had it been used on Jason? Or did it belong to a different Gothamite? Regardless of the truth, he carefully slipped it into his pocket. If it _had_ been used on Jason, he'd need everything he could to figure out what he had been drugged with.

Jason's lips were blue. Bruce wiped the snow off his body, but he knew that it wouldn't go far. The cold had seeped far into his son's bones. He needed warmth and fast.

He didn't want his son to die again, not tonight, not _ever._

He gathered his child (well, adult now, he supposed) into his arms. Jason was shaking slightly with the cold, but not enough to warm him successfully. Glaring into the darkness as if the perpetrators would melt out of the shadows, he fled into the night.

* * *

Jason was warm. He didn't remember the last time he felt so; it must've been eons ago. There were soft sheets over him and a pillow underneath his head. It almost felt as though there was a heat rock next to him. In fact, he would have thought he was back at his safe house somehow if it wasn't for the strong antiseptic smell. There was no one in his safe house that could have done that. Where the hell was he?

He cracked his eyes open. There was a bright light a few feet away, almost as bright as a star, and he was forced to close his eyes. Was he in a hospital?

"Jaylad?"

Jason froze.

Did his heat rock just fucking _speak_ to him?

He forced his eyes open once again, turned against the light, and stared at his talkative heat rock. It wasn't a heat rock.

Since when did _Bruce_ of all people find him?

"Wha?" Jason pushed away from him. "Fuck off of me."

His father was fucking _cuddling_ with him. Why? When did he get there? What happened?

Bruce sighed and relented, but he made sure to throw an additional blanket over top of him. Why was he treating Jason like this? So...nicely? What happened to the man who hated his guts? Bruce hated him. Jason was a murderer. He had tried to kill and hurt other members of the Batfamily, and that was unforgivable.

"Do you know where you are, Jason?"

Jason coughed. That was a good fucking question. "Hell."

There was a pause. Jason thought he saw Bruce shake his head, but his vision blurred right when he looked up.

"Do you know what happened?"

He didn't know that either. His _everything_ hurt like shit, especially the back of his head. His fingers and toes were tingling and almost felt like they were about to fall off. His ribs were sore, and there were obviously bandages wrapped around them. His limbs were lead.

"I found you in the back of an alley yesterday. You had been beaten, drugged, and were turning hypothermic fast." Bruce explained.

They drugged him? What was it? Was it addictive? Was he going to die? Slowly get thrown into the life of his mother? He knew he was overreacting, but that didn't matter to him.

"...It isn' jogging my memory." Jason squinted his eyes at the old man. "Leave me alone." There was a noticeable slur in his voice.

"Does anything hurt?"

Everything was painful.

"I wan' to go home."

He sighed again. "You can leave as soon as you have healed enough."

"When?"

"It depends." Bruce shrugged. "Dr. Thompkins is keeping you under observation for pneumonia, and she wants you to take it easy on your ribs. You have a severe concussion too."

"...who?"

"We don't know. Barbara and Tim are working on it right now."

"It's cold." Jason frowned. "I miss my heat rock. Where did it go?"

"Heat rock?"

Fuck. He forgot his heat rock was actually _Bruce_.

"...Nevermind." 

"Do you want my body heat?" Bruce offered.

He wanted to be mad at his father for his suggestion, but that wasn't appropriate. Jason was the one who mentioned it, the idiot.

"Jason?" He asked again when he got no response.

"...I am cold as fuck, old man."

Bruce offered his arm out to him, and he reluctantly accepted it. Why wasn't he being sent off to Arkham? Was he going to attack him. He didn't feel safe.

"Don' make me go."

He furrowed his brow. "Go? Go where?"

"Arkham or Blackgate."

His heart hurt. Did his son actually think that he would send him away at any chance he got? Was that why he was so on edge with the Bats 24/7?

"I'm never going to send you to either of those places, Jason." Bruce tried his hardest but couldn't keep the emotions from bleeding into his voice.

"I don' believe you." 

"Let me prove myself to you." He pleaded.

Jason narrowed his eyes. "You gonna stab me in the back?"

"Never, I swear."

It would be okay to deal with him for a short while, right? He was freezing his fucking ass off over here. It was impossible to ignore the cold that was seeping into his very body.

Whatever. He could pretend this never happened.

He pulled on Bruce's arm. "Heat. Now."

For the first time in years, he saw his father smile, and that made him feel good for some godforsaken reason.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!


End file.
